Garden overlooked by several houses - is this a no-no?

[whitechocolatesouffle]

We've found a house we really like which ticks pretty much all the boxes except for the fact that the garden is overlooked by four or five different houses. Our current (small) garden is quite private and although we don't do anything particularly wild in there (other than gardening and sunbathing) it feels relaxing knowing that no-one is looking on.

Has anyone gone from having a private garden to an overlooked garden and did you regret it? I do spend a lot of time in the garden especially now I work from home and it's a bit of a sanctuary for me. I realise that there are things I can do to get more privacy like planting trees and adding trellises etc but these take a while to be effective. Does anyone who has an overlooked garden feel under surveillance or do you just get used to it after a while and relax? I often go out with a coffee in my dressing gown first thing looking a bit of a fright and not sure if the world is ready for this sight.........

Our garden is surrounded by other gardens. I think probably about 5 houses could see into our garden but I think some of them would have to contort themselves at weird angles (hang out of a bathroom window or similar) to get a good view. When we walked into the house I remember thinking "oh those houses are quite close" but in the winter they are screened by trees.

I don't sunbathe naked so it's not an issue for me

I guess one issue for me is that I do like to sunbathe in just my bikini bottoms when it's really hot (sorry hope I'm not going to be accused of a drip feed here!)

Location is everything, keep looking. Potentially, several lots of rowdy neighbours all at the same time. There will be other nice houses.

I'm less bothered about being overlooked from houses than I am about people seeing over fences. My last garden had 3' fences and so I never had any privacy. I liked my neighbours but once a trampoline was added I felt like I was under surveillance by their kids and couldn't just sit in the garden reading. It was really bloody noisy too.

I don't want to be the new neighbour putting up 6' fences so I'm currently looking for somewhere with a mature garden with plenty of trees/hedges.

Normal where I am- terraced houses with small gardens and yards. Everyone has six foot fences but we are still overlooked by the houses and flats at the back.

I really wouldn't go for an overlooked house like that unless it was our only available or affordable option. More importantly, it sounds like you wouldn't be happy there.

@whitechocolatesouffle

I guess one issue for me is that I do like to sunbathe in just my bikini bottoms when it's really hot (sorry hope I'm not going to be accused of a drip feed here!)

Well the obvious answer is then that you need a house with a private garden!

If you are going to be topless then you need complete privacy. My garden is private and I love it. The only downside is that one set of neighbours are incredibly loud and annoying. They spend almost every weekend banging and braying in their garden from 9am until the sun goes down. It's awful when they start. Sometimes dh turns up his incredibly powerful stereo and blasts out the most thrashing metal he can find to prove a point.

My OHs house is overlooked on everyone single aspect - even above when the jets go over! I hate it. Before the fences were replaced the old ones had sunk to waist height so the immediate neighbours could see absolutely everything. I felt like I was on stage doing a performance or a Big Brother contestant. OH isn't bothered by it but I crave privacy and peace. I can't bear that thing of having to make small talk or ignore people.
Having said that, I still go out there in a bikini because I'm fairly bloody minded. If people want to look, that's their issue. But I'd love to be able to potter about without feeling self conscious.

Yeah if you want to sunbathe topless then you shouldn't buy a garden that is in any way overlooked! But would it really be that much of an imposition to put a bikini top on, if you otherwise love the house, price, location etc?

Very few people (outside of Mumsnet anyway) are lucky enough to have outdoor space that is completely private. You just get on with it and make sure that you don't do anything in the garden that you really REALLY wouldn't want anyone to see.

One other thought: a few posters have mentioned being overlooked by bedroom windows being much less of a problem than being overlooked by downstairs windows. This isn't necessarily the case: older children / teenagers are likely to spend a lot of time in their rooms, and anyone working from home and sitting by the window all day might well be doing so from the spare room / box room. I spent most of last year WFH in an upstairs bedroom and while I certainly wasn't intending to spy on our neighbours I felt like I got to know them fairly well just from working in that room all summer! It's very natural to look out of the window when you're taking a brief screen break, to rest your eyes, and when your window completely overlooks somebody's garden you're going to see them hanging out washing, sunbathing, having a drink/cigarette etc.

It depends on how many houses can see into your garden....our garden is only overlooked by our next door neighbours, if they are looking out of their upstairs windows, they can see in and vice versa but I honestly don't feel self conscious about it. I am quite a private person too.
Our garden feels very private - we have large flowering plants and shrub on the trellises as well as one of those large fixed umbrellas that we put up for shade. That instantly creates privacy as you can't see us underneath. It helps that we know our neighbours very well and get on with them, I think we are more respectful of one another.

Hated it. Feels like your living in a good fish bowl. With so many conversions a lot of those windows were no longer bedrooms and constantly in use. And once you do something a bit different to everyone else who doesn't mind, omg the outrage. At one point I was called a stuck up cow cos I wanted privacy lol. It was also made worse as at the bottom of the garden there was also a road and we had crap height restrictions.

It's not about I'm doing anything in the garden that needs privacy, it's cos a part of my diagnosis includes paranoid traits and I try and avoid triggers for the negative parts of my mh. I'm not ready to be locked up for the rest of my life.

Our back garden is completely 'landlocked' we have four gardens that join ours, two at right angles down one side, a
'normal' ndns garden on other side and along the back of our garden meets the bottom of another garden.
When we first moved in there was a lady lived next door who rarely came into her garden and the two on the other side were an old couple and an old man who lived on his own and none really ventured down their garden.
Now though two x thirty somethings with young dc have moved in and the house with garden that joins bottom of our garden has been bought by a keen gardener. So there is always someone either mowing or strimming, barbecuing or having friends round/dog barking or whatever. Individually of course they're entitled to do so but collectively has had the effect of us being in process of moving out to somewhere with one or no neighbours

I'd never buy a house with an overlooked garden, I like my privacy, same as how I always buy houses with the living room at the back of the house.
In summer the kids sometimes play out the back either naked or just in their pants too.

Never buy a house that is overlooked. You need privacy

@HumunaHey

I had a once private garden until the neighbour who's garden backed onto ours, trimmed his very large tree out of the blue. It's half the size it used to be. hate it.

They can see right into our kitchen (from their bedroom). I can see what they're watching on TV. I do feel very exposed when I go into my garden and even my kitchen. The man also spends alot of time pruning the trimmed tree so he's up on the ladder looking down into our garden, sometimes when we're out there. It's awkward.

Oh my goodness are you me?! This is exactly what’s happened to us and I hate it

We have quite a large tree at the end of our garden and next door has three large trees and overall it’s quite private. Hopefully when the house next door sells they won’t remove them. What I have done is have a patio built at the end of the garden. It is enclosed by fence on two sides and has screening along another and due to angles and another tree of ours it’s totally private at that end. That’s all you can do really even if you buy a house that’s screened people make changes.

Bahhhhhumbug similar here. We had really quiet neighbours for years - we were one of the few young families and made a real effort to keep the noise down. Now we have new families left of us and behind us, three kids each, they have lots of playdates and outdoor dinners, they’re doing nothing wrong but it’s so loud. We are looking at moving…

It’s not the privacy though - house is no more overlooked than it ever was. It’s the noise.